Label Guide: Aladdin

Aladdin Records came to life in 1945 as "Philo Recording" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner, who ran the "Philharmonic Music Shop" record store in Los Angeles. Philo released a bunch of jazz and R&B singles by artists as Wynonie Harris or Illinois Jacquet.

In early 1946, the Mesner brother were forced to change their label's name because of a complaint by radio company Philco, and Aladdin then reissued the entire Philo catalogue and continued to publish a large number of new jazz and rhythm and blues recordings, all of them in the 78rpm (and later 45rpm) single format.

Aladdin's first 10"-LP was issued in 1951 with 12"-LPs following in 1956. Many of the early LP releases were pressed on red vinyl and are now in high demand by collectors, fetching very high prices on the market, both for the outstanding quality of the music and the scarcity and historic value of these albums.

That is also the case for the albums that were issued on Aladdin's subsidiary labels in the 1950s, especially those on Jazz:West and Intro. Aladdin started about half a dozen subsidiaries, all of them were very short-lived and most of them haven't released any albums. A budget subsidiary named Score was started in 1957 to reissue old Aladdin material and also new recordings for a low retail price.

The Mesner brothers sold Aladdin to Imperial Records in 1962, and much of the old material was re-released again on Imperial, often for the first time in stereo. Imperial, in turn, was acquired by and folded into Liberty Records later in the 1960s. Following several more rounds of consolidation in the industry, the Aladdin back catalogue is now owned by Universal Music Group.